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Topics - Silver Nemesis

#121
The 1995 Judge Dredd movie gets a lot of hate these days. The online consensus seems to be that it's a terrible film with little connection to the comics on which it's supposedly based. But is the Stallone movie really so far removed from the source material?

Judge Dredd was created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra for the British science fiction comic 2000 AD, and many of the characters and storylines featured in the 1995 movie are lifted directly from the source material. The storyline about Rico Dredd returning to Mega-City One to take revenge against his brother is adapted from 'The Return of Rico!' (2000 AD Prog #30, September 1977).


The storyline about Dredd being framed for murder and having to clear his name is adapted from 'The Day the Law Died' (2000 AD Prog #89-108, November 1978-April 1979). The plot about Dredd teaming up with Fergee to regain control of Mega-City One from a corrupt Judge is also adapted from this arc.

There are many other comic stories referenced throughout the film, so let's break the movie down and see just how closely it adheres to the source material.


Like the comics, the movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of the United States where most of the human population is crammed into vast Mega Cities that offer sanctuary from the irradiated wasteland known as the Cursed Earth. Mega-City One is the city state covering the east coast of America. The version presented in the movie is visually faithful to the comics.


The citizens of Mega-City One are shown to live in huge blocks serviced by robot custodians. This is also accurate to the source material.

The first major character we meet in the film is Fergee (spelled 'Fergie' in the film's credits) played by Rob Schneider. In the movie his full name is given as Herman Ferguson, while in the comics he was simply known as Fergee. In the comics Fergee was an insane halfwit who inhabited the Undercity and played a significant role in 'The Day the Law Died'. In the movie he's a small-time crook who serves as the comic relief.


Both versions of Fergee forge an alliance with Dredd while the latter has been exiled from Mega-City One. In the comics they teamed-up in the Undercity beneath Mega-City One, while in the movie they are forced to work together after their prison transport crashes in the Cursed Earth. In both stories Fergee helps Dredd sneak back into Mega-City One and dethrone the insane Judge who is ruling the metropolis (Cal in the comic, Rico in the film).

When Fergee arrives at his new apartment he finds a block war is in progress. Block wars are a common occurrence in the comics.


The Judges' uniforms in the movie are mostly faithful to Ezquerra's design, except they're not made of leather and feature codpieces. Aside from those two deviations, they're accurate to the comics.

It's during the block war that we see Dredd himself for the first time, played by Sylvester Stallone. Judge Joe Dredd debuted in 'Judge Whitey' (2000 AD Prog #2, March 1977) and has remained a standard fixture in 2000 AD ever since. The Dredd of the comics is a fascist authoritarian bully and the most feared enforcer of Mega-City One's totalitarian judiciary. He is known for dispensing extremely harsh punishments for the most trivial of offences (e.g. blowing off a citizen's leg for ignoring a 'WALK DON'T RUN' sign). The Dredd in the film initially appears the equal of his comic book counterpart in both temperament and methodology, but gradually mellows into a more humanised characterisation as the story progresses.


Stallone's distinctive scowl recalls Ezquerra's original design for the character, while his muscular physique evokes the way artists were portraying Dredd in the eighties and nineties comics. Although Stallone's eyes are brown in real life, he wore blue contact lenses for the film. This was likely a nod to the cover of 2000 AD Prog #661 (January 1990), which depicts Dredd with blue eyes.


Perhaps the single biggest criticism of the movie is that Dredd removes his helmet to reveal his face. The Dredd in the comics has never shown his true features, and any time his helmet is removed there is always some obstruction to prevent his countenance from being clearly seen (e.g. bandages, the shadow beneath the brim of his hat, steam, etc). However in both the comic and the movie it is revealed that Dredd was cloned from Judge Fargo, and Fargo's facial features were shown in 'Dredd Angel' (2000 AD Prog #377, August 1984). This story predated the revelation that Dredd was Fargo's clone, which is why they allowed his features to be shown. And as you can see from the image below, Fargo's appearance was not unlike Stallone's.


Dredd's first line of dialogue in the film is his catchphrase from the comics: "I am the law!" This line is repeated several times throughout the movie.

Dredd's 'Lawgiver Two' in the film is a modified version of the Lawgiver Mk II from the comics. The movie Lawgiver shares several special functions with the comic version, including standard fire, rapid-fire mode, grenade shots, signal flare (called 'incendiary' in the comics) and armour-piercing rounds. The 'double whammy' function was created for the movie and does not feature in the comics.

In the comics the Lawgivers are booby trapped to self-destruct if anyone other than their rightful owner tries using them. They feature a similar security system in the movie, except instead of exploding they electrocute the person wielding them.


Dredd's Lawmaster motorcycle is visually faithful to the version in the comics.


Also present at the block war is Judge Hershey, played by Diane Lane. Judge Barbara Hershey first appeared in 'The Judge Child Quest Part VII' (2000 AD Prog #162, April 1980). In both the comics and the movie, she is one of the few people Dredd seems to like and respect. The movie suggests they have romantic feelings for each other, while in the source material their relationship remains purely professional.


In the comics the citizens of Mega-City One use a special dialect known as Mega-Speak. Examples of this, such as the expletive 'Drokk!', can be heard throughout the movie.

The film's depiction of the Grand Hall of Justice incorporates the eagle-motif from the comic book version.


It's at the Grand Hall of Justice that we are introduced to Chief Judge Fargo, played by Max von Sydow. Eustace Fargo was the first Chief Judge in the comics, as well as the source of the DNA code from which Dredd was cloned. He first appeared in the aforementioned 'Dredd Angel'.


As Chief Judge, Fargo leads the Council of Five. Also on the council is Judge Griffin, played by Jürgen Prochnow. In the comics Judge Griffin was the principal of the Academy of Law and was one of Dredd's allies during the war against Judge Cal. He was portrayed as an honest lawman and succeeded Cal as Chief Judge. In the movie he's portrayed as a villain and tries to take over Mega-City One with Rico's help. The Griffin in the comics did eventually become a villain during 'The Apocalypse War' storyline (2000 AD Prog #245–267 & #269–270, January-July 1982), but only because he had been brainwashed by the Soviet forces of East-Meg One. Ultimately he was executed by Dredd. His role in the film incorporates elements of Judge Cal's storyline from the comics. Griffin first appeared in 2000 AD Prog #27 (August 1977).


The main antagonist in the film is Rico Dredd (played by Armand Assante), who first appeared in 2000 AD Prog #30. In both the comics and the movie, Rico was once Dredd's closest friend and a fellow Judge. But then Dredd caught Rico in the act of a crime and was forced to pass judgement on him. In the movie Dredd didn't know Rico was his brother when he judged him, but in the comics he knew all along.

In the comics Rico was sentenced to a penal colony on Titan where he had his mouth and nose surgically sealed as part of a procedure to allow him and the other prisoners to work in a vacuum. When he returned to Earth, he still bore the facial scars of this procedure. In the film he bears no such disfigurements and was instead imprisoned at a penal facility in Aspen.


In both stories he escapes from prison and journeys to Mega-City One with the aim of taking revenge against his brother.


Like the movie version of Judge Griffin, much of Rico's storyline in the film is taken from the comic book character Judge Cal. The movie version of Rico also has parallels with the comic character Judge Judd, but I'll say more about that later.

Upon returning to Earth in the movie, Rico promptly acquires the instruments he will need to exact his revenge. This includes a Judge's uniform, a Lawgiver pistol and an ABC robot. The ABC Warriors is another popular series published in 2000 AD, beginning back in Prog #119 (June 1979). The leader of the team in the comics is a robot called Hammerstein, who had actually debuted a year earlier than Prog 119 in the 2000 AD sister publication Starlord: specifically in 'The Day of the Robot' (Starlord #1, May 1978). Although the robot in the movie is never referred to as Hammerstein (except in the acknowledgements on the end credits), he is clearly modelled on the same visual design. Hammerstein is a good guy in the comics, while the ABC Warrior in the movie is portrayed as a villain.


The sequence where Dredd is framed for murder, put on trial and found guilty by the Council of Five is adapted from 'The Day the Law Died'. In both the comic and the film Dredd seemingly murders a journalist who has portrayed him in an unflattering light.



In the comic the murder was committed by a robot doppelganger created by Judge Cal, while in the movie it is Rico himself disguised as Dredd. In both stories the real Dredd is arrested by the Special Judicial Squad.

#122
Other comics / The Beano 80th Anniversary
Mon, 30 Jul 2018, 15:48
Happy birthday to The Beano! July 30th 2018 marks its 80th anniversary, making it by far the longest running title in the history of British comics, as well as one of the longest running comics globally. DC Thomson has published almost four thousand issues since 1938 and the comic is still going strong today.


Here's Mark Hamill reading an issue with his son around the time he was filming The Empire Strikes Back.


And more recently while filming the Sequel Trilogy.


He even wrote a fan letter to the editors back in 1979.


Here's to 80 more years of Dennis the Menace and the Bash Street Kids.
#123
Animated Batman / Batman: Hush (2019)
Sat, 21 Jul 2018, 11:56
Warner Bros has announced a new animated movie based on Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's classic Hush storyline. It's one of four DC animated movies scheduled for release in 2019, the other three being:

•   Reign of the Supermen
•   Justice League vs. The Fatal Five
•   Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

A part of me would prefer an adaption of The Long Halloween over Hush. But considering how badly the animators failed to capture Mike Mignola's beautiful art style in the Gotham by Gaslight movie, I don't really trust them to get Tim Sale's signature style right either. Still, let's hope these new films show some improvement over DC's other recent animated offerings.
#124
The Dark Knight (2008) / Viral Marketing
Sun, 8 Jul 2018, 11:49
Who else has fond memories of this film's viral marketing campaign? It was one of the most effective and elaborate advertising campaigns in movie history. I wasn't one of those fans who got involved in the real world events, but I do remember joining in with some of the online stuff. Like that one site which was completely black, but when you dragged the cursor down the page it revealed hidden writing that read "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" in one huge wall of text. Every now and then there was a different letter, and if you went through and added all these letters together it spelled a hidden message. Then there was the 'I Believe in Harvey Dent' site which revealed the first image of Ledger's Joker.


Fans were so hyped about this back in the day.


There were also the Gotham Tonight vids with Mike Engel that were posted online in the runup to the movie's release. They gave extra back story to the film and offered fans insight into some of Batman's activities between the events of Batman Begins and TDK.


And of course there was the Gotham Knight anime that introduced some of TDK's new characters, including Ramirez and Maroni. All in all, this was an outstanding campaign that did a great job getting the public hyped for the movie. The short order release schedule of modern CBMs would likely preclude a campaign like this in 2018, and that's a real shame.
#125
This thread is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (obviously). Some theatres are hosting special screenings of the film to commemorate the occasion, so feel free to post the times and locations of any cinemas in your area that are doing so. Also feel free to post links to articles, fan art, videos and anything else relevant to this special date. Alternatively you can just list a few things you like about the film, or comment on the ways it influenced comics, games and movies that followed in its wake.

I'll highlight a few things I like about the movie at a later time, but for now here's a video and some fan art to get things started.







#126

This looks pretty awesome. I've already got most of the classic DC films and TV shows on DVD, but a service like this might encourage younger fans to dig into the past and experience older movies and programmes they'd otherwise neglect. I hope the catalogue includes the old 1940s film serials.

The comic section could be a great feature too if it allows unlimited access to the DC library. But I'm guessing there will be restrictions on which titles are available, so as not to undercut print sales.

As far as the original TV content goes, I'm most interested in Teen Titans, Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing. But the quality will need to be significantly better than Gotham or any of the CW shows.
#127
Movies / Creed II (2018)
Wed, 20 Jun 2018, 14:29
I liked the first Creed a lot, and since this one's a sequel to Rocky IV – my favourite entry in the series – I find myself suitably hyped for Creed II. I'm especially looking forward to seeing Dolph reprise his role as Drago, over thirty years after he first played him. It's going to be a big winter for Lundgren, what with this and Aquaman coming out in such close proximity.

#129
Pennyworth (2019) / Pennyworth
Wed, 16 May 2018, 18:48
DC has announced yet another prequel series. This one will tell the origin of Alfred, depicting his adventures in London during the swinging sixties. It will be 10 episodes long and takes place in the same universe as Gotham.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/gotham-boss-sets-new-batman-prequel-series-at-epix-1112339?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%20Breaking%20News_2018-05-16%2009:00:00_lgoldberg&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews
#130
General Bat-chat / Red Hood IT (fan film)
Wed, 18 Apr 2018, 22:17
For all you Pennywise fans out there.

#131
Here's a recently unearthed 1966 British road safety advert offering further proof that West was the greatest Batman. Check out the awkward 10-second stare at the end.


This is completely in character for West's version of the Dark Knight. I imagine it's precisely how he'd spend his holiday in Londinium – teaching kids how to safely cross the road.

#132
As the title clearly states, this thread is for anything and everything related to the Man of Steel's 80th anniversary. Anything from fan art to music videos or any other kind of tribute is welcome here, so feel free to post anything interesting you find throughout the year ahead.


Here are some variant covers for Action Comics #1000.

Steve Rude



Michael Cho



Dave Gibbons



Michael Allred



Jim Steranko



Dan Jurgens



Lee Bermejo

#133
I could have sworn we already had a thread on this film, but I can't seem to find it. Some new pictures have emerged online in the past few days. Here's some concept art for Batman and Superman's costumes. Apparently these do not reflect the finished designs.




And here are some photos. According to Armie Hammer, the costumes in the group picture are not the finished designs either. They must have been early prototypes.




I'm not digging Superman's outfit here, but the Flash's costume looks like it might be the best live action version yet. I'd like to see a higher-resolution image of that one. Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter all look good. Green Lantern is less impressive. I can't really judge the batsuit based on such a blurry image.

Now, more than ever, I'd really like to see what the finished outfits looked like.
#134
40's serials / Best Batman of the forties?
Sun, 25 Mar 2018, 18:11
Many people regard Adam West as the first live-action incarnation of Batman, but two other actors had already played the role before he ever danced the Batusi. Both of these actors clocked up more live action screen time as Batman than either Val Kilmer or George Clooney, and yet sadly their contributions to the franchise go largely overlooked by modern fans. Lewis Wilson portrayed the Caped Crusader in the 1943 Batman film serial while Robert Lowery succeeded him in the 1949 serial. But which did a better job?

Here's my take.

BRUCE WAYNE

Wilson wins this one for me. Lowery was fine in the role, but I think Wilson brought a little more comedy and charm to Bruce's idle playboy routine. He displayed superior comic flair and took a more pronounced approach to distinguishing the character's various personas – the lazy playboy, the thoughtful detective, and the disguised criminal – whereas Lowery played all three in more or less the same manner. And to top it all, Wilson's facial features perfectly reflect how Bruce was drawn in the forties comics.


That's not to say Lowery was a bad Bruce Wayne. On paper, all the same characteristics were there – he put on the idle playboy routine, disguised himself as a crook and humorously misled his love interest. But I think Lowery's performance as Bruce was a lot drier than Wilson's and he lacked his predecessor's easygoing charm and sense of humour. So although I do like Lowery's Bruce Wayne, I'd have to give this one to Wilson.

BATMAN

Lowery wins this hands down. Wilson was ok as Batman, but I have issues with his performance. For one thing, he had this way of slouching that threw into emphasis how baggy his outfit was. Both Wilson and Lowery had slight paunches, but Lowery was better at sucking in his gut and standing up straight. Both men were tall and naturally broad shouldered, but Lowery had the more imposing physical presence in my opinion. He was also much better at fighting, though we should really credit the stunt team for that one.

Another problem I have with Wilson's Batman is his voice. Neither he nor Lowery used different voices to distinguish between Batman and Bruce Wayne. But while Lowery had a deep commanding voice well suited to the Batman persona, Wilson's was lighter and more cheerful sounding. It was fine for a millionaire playboy, but less appropriate for the Dark Knight.

Moving away from the actors themselves, I think Lowery's costume was also a lot better than Wilson's. Both were too baggy, but Wilson's far more so. His trunks were oversized and rode up over his abdomen, and the ears on his cowl can be seen drooping in some of the close-up shots.


The most obvious problem with Lowery's costume is the cowl – the ears project at divergent angles similar to the original design from Detective Comics #27. It looks ok in profile, but seen head-on it doesn't look quite right. However the rest of his costume, despite being a little too baggy, is basically sound. And I like the way Lowery's cape drapes over his shoulders in many scenes.


FINAL VERDICT

For me, Lowery was the best Batman of the forties. He was calm and collected as Batman and brought a powerful physical presence to the role. As Bruce Wayne, he was unremarkable but still ticked all the boxes. Wilson was a fantastic Bruce Wayne, but an underwhelming Batman. I still like Wilson in the role, but Lowery takes the crown in my book. I vaguely recall seeing a poll prior to the release of Batman Begins where fans voted Lowery the second best Batman actor after Keaton, rating him even higher than West or Kilmer. I wouldn't rate him quite that highly myself, but I do rank him above Wilson, Clooney and voice actors like Olan Soule and Ben McKenzie.

So what does everyone else think? Wilson or Lowery?
#135
Movies / Cobra Kai
Tue, 6 Mar 2018, 17:29
Finally, that LaRusso kid's gonna get what's coming to him.




#136
Kilmer has participated in a couple of Reddit AMAs over the past year with some amusing results. Here are a few screen captures of Batman-related questions and Kilmer's responses.

On Batman & Robin (1997):

On possibly reprising his role as Batman:

On the best aspect of making Batman Forever (did he misspell Schumacher's name here on purpose?):

On Michael Gough:

On a hypothetical fight between himself, Clooney and Affleck:

You can read the full interviews here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/67qzrx/hello_reddit_i_am_actor_and_artist_val_kilmer_i/
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/7hrl9o/hello_reddit_i_am_actor_and_artist_val_kilmer_ama/
#137
I love these. Pratt's animation is beautiful and he managed to get 1980s Superboy John Newton to voice Superman. I'd happily trade in all the upcoming Superman-without-Superman TV shows in exchange for just one animated series done in this style.






#138
This thread is intended as an overview of the infamous showdown between Robin and Kato – and more importantly, their alter egos Burt Ward and Bruce Lee – as well as an investigation into the conflicting accounts of Ward's martial arts training, or lack thereof.


A certain degree of controversy has arisen over the years surrounding Ward's claims to hold a black belt in martial arts. Depending on which interview you read, he claims to hold the rank in either karate or taekwondo. He or his interviewers seem to cite the two separate martial arts as though they were interchangeable. But which, if any, did he train in?

When he auditioned for the part of Robin, Ward demonstrated his karate skills by chopping a wooden board.


According to the November 1968 issue of Black Belt, Ward had no formal martial arts training at this time and performed the demonstration during his screen test by imitating a trick a karate enthusiast had shown him. The false claim that he held a black belt was soon spread by publicists, and his martial arts background was frequently questioned during the promotion of the show.

Concerned about this, Ward then undertook an intensive six month training regimen under the direct tutelage of Young Ik Sou, director of the International Taekwondo Association. The November 1968 issue of Black Belt documents the details of this regimen. It also includes numerous photographs of Ward training with Young Ik Sou.


This six month period coincided with the production of the first season of the TV show, so that by time they shot the 1966 feature film (which went into production immediately after season 1), Ward had completed his training. The November 1968 issue of Black Belt says that Ward studied karate, not taekwondo. The article concludes with the following:

Quote"He had been through all of this grind, had been taught all that the sensei had to offer in his course and theoretically he had emerged from the wars as a brown belt, but the gnawing truth ate away at his insides. True, he was taught the martial art of karate, but in those six gruelling months, how much had he really learned? That was the question."

'Theoretically' being the operative word. Admittedly I've never trained in taekwondo or karate, but I did train in jiu-jitsu for several years when I was a teenager. And progression in jiu-jitsu required us to train for a certain number of months in between each grade test. My best friend back then was a 1st dan black belt in karate, and I remember him too having to train for a set period before being eligible to undertake his next test. It takes years to master any martial art. You can't just do it in a few months. And I'm always suspicious when I hear about movie or TV actors being granted a high rank after just a few weeks or months of training. I see this as hollow PR hype rather than a genuine evaluation of their skill level. Now it may be the case that there's a different system in taekwondo that allows students to progress more quickly. But let's just say I'm a little sceptical that Ward is really a brown belt.

Nevertheless, he does seem to have received some real (albeit limited) martial arts training under the tutelage of a respected instructor. In October 2015 Ward was even inducted into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame:


So that brings us to the infamous Robin vs. Kato fight. There are numerous accounts of tensions behind the scenes in the run-up to filming this sequence.


It's no secret that Kato was originally meant to lose to Robin. Bruce Lee refused to go along with this, so they instead ended the fight with a draw. Numerous sources, including Adam West, state that Lee was trying to psyche out Ward on set by glaring at him and being uncommunicative. These same sources state that Ward was sweating bullets and thought Lee was really going to beat him up. A Newsweek article quoted Green Hornet star Van Williams commenting on the matter:

Quote"Burt Ward was absolutely petrified when he was going to work with him, and he didn't want to work with him. And Bruce got the script, and in the original script he lost to Robin. Well, that didn't go over too good with Bruce. He walked off the show. He said, 'I'm not going to do that.' He said, 'There's no way that anyone would believe I go in there and fight Robin and lose.'"
http://www.newsweek.com/bruce-lee-king-fu-martial-arts-390811

The October 1979 issue of Fighting Stars quotes Lee himself as confirming the incident:

Quote"'I had a hard time keeping a straight face,' he said. 'I started to crowd Burt and he began to flap his elbows and jump around me. I was really keeping him scared and I hear someone in the back whisper, 'The black panther and the yellow chicken.' At that point, I burst out laughing. I just couldn't keep a straight face anymore.'"
http://tothebatpoles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/batscholar-on-episodes-85-and-86.html

Ward himself has denied this, claiming that he and Lee were good friends who used to train together.


If this did indeed happen, it would seem to be a joke Lee was playing on Ward to freak him out. Others have speculated that Lee was annoyed at Ward for claiming to be a brown or black belt in a martial art he'd only studied for six months and wanted to teach him a lesson. Ward claims none of this is true. I've also heard that Ward's stunt double Victor Paul performed most of the fight scene anyway, which would seem to contradict Bruce Lee's account of the incident. I'm sure everyone's already seen it, but here's the finished fight scene:


So what does everyone think about this? Bruce Lee did cultivate friendships with many people in Hollywood, so it's possible Ward was one of them. Was the whole thing a prank Lee played on Ward? Is it all a myth to hype one actor's reputation at the expense of the other? Is Burt Ward really a brown of black belt, or did he exaggerate the extent of his training?
#139
Comic Film & TV / Turtles Forever (2009)
Sun, 4 Feb 2018, 19:12
This movie was made for TV to celebrate the Ninja Turtles' 25th anniversary back in 2009, but I only saw it for the first time last night after picking up a cheap copy of the DVD. The 1990 TMNT film will probably always be my favourite, but this one gives it a run for its money. If nothing else, it's definitely the funniest movie in the series. The plot follows on from the 2003 animated TV show and sees those versions of the Turtles team up with both their 1987 counterparts from the Fred Wolf cartoon and their original Mirage Comics iterations from 1984. The animation brilliantly captures the contrasting character designs and art styles from the different eras.


The film acknowledges the existence of a Turtles multiverse and includes references to other realities such as those from the 1990s film trilogy, the 1996 anime and the 2007 CG movie.






Tokka and Rahzar from TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) make a cameo during one of the action scenes.


The end sequence is chock full of panel recreations and dialogue from the original Mirage series and even features some amusing Miller-esque voice over narration lifted straight from TMNT Vol 1 #1 (May 1984).


I remember when this film came out hearing some fans complain that the 1987 Turtles were portrayed as too clownish or cowardly, and I can see where that criticism is coming from. But the treatment of the 1987 Turtles was funny enough that it didn't bother me. It is a shame the original voice actors didn't reprise their roles, and some of the new voices clearly don't match the old ones. The classic 1987 theme tune is also conspicuously absent for legal reasons. But none of these issues struck me as a major detriment.

If you like the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series – which was also crammed full of comic references and humorous nods to earlier screen versions – then you should enjoy this. It's a sweet, funny celebration of the franchise's history that manages to pay homage to almost every incarnation of the Turtles on page and screen. As near as I can tell the only major incarnations that weren't acknowledged were the Konami videogame and Next Mutation versions. There's an argument to be made for the Next Mutation Turtles being older versions of the nineties movie Turtles anyway, so their absence is not a major oversight. I'm just impressed they managed to reference as many different versions of the TMNT gang as they did. I wish every superhero could get an anniversary special like this.

Turtles Forever is a must-see for any TMNT fan or anyone just looking for a funny light-hearted superhero film to watch. Last year I ranked the six theatrically-released Turtles movies as follows:

6) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
5) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Out of the Shadows (2016)
3) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)
2) TMNT (2007)
1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Turtles Forever is not a theatrically-released film, but if I were to rank it amongst these others it would be up there at the top of the list with the 2007 and 1990 movies. I highly recommend it.
#140
DC is developing yet another Superman series without Superman, this time from the makers of Gotham. Metropolis "follows Lois Lane and Lex Luthor as they investigate the world of fringe science and expose the city's dark and bizarre secrets."

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2018/01/30/superman-prequel-series-announced-will-focus-on-lois-lane-and-lex-luthor

I generally try to keep an open mind about anything that isn't a Ghostbusters remake, but right now all my instincts are screaming 'hard pass' on this one.